Tim Wilson
Goldstein · Liberal Party · Australia
“Now, we see even more immoral leadership as the Prime Minister and his ministers refuse to audit whether federal money has found its way into the hands of organised crime through the CFMEU Labor cartel.”
“The silence that we heard from our prime minister and our national leaders every step of the way led to horrific incidents like, on 10 November, the protests at the front of Central Shule in Caulfield South in the Goldstein electorate. It led eventually to the most horrific terrorist incident on our most famous national beach.”
“The idea that you would put the social solidarity of the most marginalised section of our community on a ballot paper knowing it would fail is an abrogation of leadership and responsibility and something I do not think this prime minister will ever be able to shake.”
“I've recently been spending a lot of time thinking about what moral government is and what type of government seeks to divide citizens, feed corruption and break trust within the community. The short and sharp of it is that it's an immoral government.”
“But to engage in citizenship stacking, where they deliberately went around and targeted electorates and got people to become Australian citizens on the eve of a national poll, is absolutely disgraceful.”
“There is hope. We can have a moral government again that's focused on uniting Australians and building trust and taking Australia forward together. But the only way we can do that is by seeing a change of government and the end of the Albanese government.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,081 lines we hold for Tim Wilson, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 22.
“That's why we've always been very open to having a conversation about the importance of homeownership as a principle before retirement savings. This is not because we don't fundamentally believe in retirement savings but because you get the benefits of homeownership during your working life and your retirement. But we know that is not good enough for the Labor Party. They want to rig the system in favour of their mates in the superannuation industry at the expense of young Australians owning their own home. It's hilarious because what they actually say is that it's outrageous that we couldn't have a public support system for incomes in retirement, but the government should come along and increase its equity and its stake in the first homes of Australians.”
“And, in the process, they used it as a vehicle to increase the wages of a select few, and, even worse than that, they used it as a facilitation device to get public money to organised crime, like through the CFMEU-Labor cartel. That is the fundamental challenge with superannuation. We see it as workers' money that they should control. The Labor Party sees it as a pathway to launder money to organised crime. We make no apology for standing up for Australians controlling their superannuation. We make no apologies for standing up and believing that Australians should be able to control their own destiny, and we make no apologies for saying people's money should be able to work for them on their priorities consistent with their stages of life.”
“When I was the chair of the House economics committee, we went through step by step how superannuation funds expended marketing expenses to trade unions, who then organised campaigns for the Australian Labor Party so that they could be in government and garnish more of Australians' wages towards superannuation, which could then be harvested for fees. And so the superannuation cycle of life continued to go on. But fear not, because you just need to look at what the state governments did. They said, 'We can get in on that act.' What they started doing was commissioning projects and using the superannuation system as a way to finance projects so that then they too could get in and suck off the teat of Australian superannuation.”
“Superannuation is absolutely one of my favourite topics, and I want to follow the member who just spoke about how this is not a topic that's abstract. I couldn't agree with him more. He wanted to talk about how superannuation is money in return for work. I couldn't agree more. Every time the superannuation guarantee goes up, it means workers' wages go down, and that's why we've always believed in our heart of hearts that superannuation is workers' money. The problem with the Labor Party is that they do not see the trillion dollars of money in superannuation as workers' money; they see it as a honey pot—a honey pot to extract extreme amounts of fees to be able to fund the ALP itself. You can just go and look.”
“My question is to the Treasurer. An hour ago, the government followed the coalition and announced a fuel excise cut. Can the Treasurer confirm that, unlike the coalition's plan, there is no inflationary offset to the government's excise cut?”
“As was written in Galatians: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. That message of freedom, of responsibility and of hope is one that transcends faith and speaks to all of us. So, for those who are honouring Passover, chag sameach, and, for those that are honouring the passing and the resurrection of Christ, have a happy Easter. To all members of parliament and to all communities: may there be peace on earth.”
“This is the time of year for hope. Passover tells the story of liberation of a people freed from slavery in Egypt, and, of course, Easter and Passover are inextricably linked. The Last Supper was a Passover Seder, and Christ's crucifixion took place during the Passover festival. This is a powerful reminder of not just the Jewish tradition but also the Christian tradition, and they did not emerge in isolation. They are bound together by history, by faith and by a shared spiritual lineage. But, more than history, these occasions speak to something universal. It's about human dignity, about compassion, about justice and about love. Yet this season is not only about the history and tradition. It's also a time for pause and reflection, because at its heart this season is about renewal not just of faith but of purpose as a people.”
“No-one was participating in the campaign or content or campaign debates where they were supposed to be independent'—except for the fact that the evidence shows that they were all organised by the candidate, including specifically listing the donors from their campaign webpage. Finally, there's the involvement of the Australian Labor Party, including the member for Isaacs, Mark Dreyfus—”
“They don't want included content produced by groups like the Smart Energy Council, who claim that they are somehow an independent organisation but actively continue to be involved in misleading the community. We also have groups like the so-called Hothouse Magazine that are involved in illegally vandalising public property across the Goldstein electorate—and I understand they did in places like Flinders and elsewhere. Then, of course, we have Dan Ilic. We all know Dan Ilic, the 'comedian' who was actively involved not just in launching the teal campaign in 2025; he also authorised content which vandalised other people's campaign material as well. We have teal groups claiming: 'Oh, it's terrible.”
“Following the 2022 election, when I was no longer a member in this House, the teal campaigners organised, when I was on holiday, to have campaign material put up around the holiday home I was staying in so that they could continue to rub in the face—the obsession and the nastiness of the teal movement is truly something to behold. There's photographic evidence, again, but the government doesn't want that going into the parliamentary record. Then there's the overt homophobic content that was produced and has even been studied by the Australian National University, including hard evidence from social media posts. They don't want that in the parliamentary record either. They don't want evidence of teals being directly caught teal handed engaging in theft, including of private property.”
“We've also seen evidence where teal campaigners deliberately vandalised a candidate's home. In this case, I need to acknowledge it was my home and with actual photographic evidence of them actually doing that, including putting content on my own private fence without my permission. There are also ongoing issues around security, where candidates have found themselves in a situation of intimidation, having to get upgrades of security at their private residence, as well as the AFP involved, for protection in the 2022 election, and there's the ongoing targeting by certain teal strategists towards Jewish community representatives. This is one that I think is particularly despicable.”
“This is not my opinion—this is literally what has come out from their own content and behaviour. We've also seen campaigners engaging such prolific behaviour that the candidates have had to apologise for their despicable behaviour, and we've got deep dishonesty where supporters of candidates claim they have no association and no attachment to the candidate—and the candidate denies their involvement—yet their own spouse produces things on Facebook saying that that is not in fact correct. They were attached to the campaign. We've seen evidence where there have been deliberate online hit squads that have been used to target other candidates and boost the teal candidate in the context of their Wikipedia pages, something that's been extensively covered in the A ustralian .”
“While it was a robust electoral contest in previous elections, nothing had been seen like it until the 2022 and 2025 election, where we had teal front groups that have been created for the sole purpose of endorsing candidates on the basis that they're apparently independent. One of the things that they don't want to show is the Instagram page of the Voices of Goldstein, which hasn't posted since May 2022. The so-called community based organisation just dissipates the minute it achieves its objective, which is getting a teal elected into the parliament. The Voices of Goldstein group had deeply unsavoury figures attached to it, including people who told other people to shut up and compared prime ministers of this country serving their nation to Adolf Hitler.”
“I seek leave to table a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters inquiry into the 2025 election. Leave not granted. This continues the ongoing efforts of the Albanese government to confront the brutal realities of what happened in the Goldstein electorate over the past two election cycles. A submission was made to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters and has twice been declined, and now it has been declined in the House of Representatives. What does it tell? It tells a very truthful story about what has actually happened in Goldstein.”
“Public money shouldn't go to organised crime. When you don't have that basic test of leadership under this prime minister, how can the Australian people have confidence in any other measure that they are going to take by turning a blind eye, wilful ignorance or complete disinterest? As we head to Easter, there are so many families who are already looking at the cost of Easter eggs, the cost of groceries, the cost of a simple holiday—we're not talking about lavish ones. We're talking about going to a caravan park. They're saying, 'Can we afford it this Easter, and will we even be in a position to afford it next Easter?' The Australian people are living with the failure of leadership by this prime minister, and they are, sadly, going to live with it for much time to come. (Time expired)”
“But we have seen none of that—and we shouldn't be surprised, because the pattern since the election has been that, when there are difficult times ahead and when there are difficult circumstances to confront, the Prime Minister scurries out of this chamber and the Treasurer scurries out of this chamber as quickly as possible. If a difficult question is asked, their only answer is bluster and attack of the opposition, not responsibility and leadership. We've seen that just in the context of the ongoing problem, the one they refuse to acknowledge, which is $15 billion of public money being handed to organised crime through the CFMEU-Labor cartel. If a prime minister won't take an audit of or be accountable for that public money and won't show the basic test of leadership—which is that public money shouldn't go to organised crime.”
“We have inflation raging, and their only answer is how they keep pouring debt petrol on the inflation fire, and Australian standards of living are declining in the process. What we need now is real leadership. We don't need the dithering. We don't need the appointment of commissars, tsars or statutory officers so that, in only a few months' time, when the full consequences of the Prime Minister's leadership or the absence of his leadership are revealed, they have somebody to sack. The Australian people voted for this government, in disproportionate numbers of seats, to stand up and steward the nation at a difficult time.”
“Now, every day, he comes into this chamber and has to explain to the Australian people just how many petrol stations are running out of petrol and running out of diesel. It is the economic model of the Albanese government. There is plenty of fuel for inflation, just not for farmers and families. They stoke inflation in the economy and then they tax the inflation and push Australian standards of living backwards. Inflation continues to outstrip wages, and Australian standards of living are going backwards. They have no answers to these problems, whether it is the Prime Minister, the Treasurer or the energy minister, in an environment of what they have now dubbed a crisis.”
“What we're not getting right now is the leadership we desperately need to confront this crisis. We've witnessed it in this chamber, where we've had the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, who's come in here—and it was only less than a month ago—and said, 'There is no supply crisis for fuel.' Everyone on the opposition benches was, allegedly, making it all up. He couldn't see the reality of the risk to supply chains, that when oil stopped being dug out of the ground in the Middle East and refined then, eventually, that might lead into what comes out of the bowser. He said that there were no supply problems. Within three days, he was back in the chamber in a humiliating backdown, having to acknowledge that there was now a national crisis.”
“I enjoyed the audition from the assistant minister for the Treasurer's job. The Albanese government has an economic model. It is to stoke inflation then tax the inflation. What we have now, with this government, is a complete failure of leadership about the type of country we should want to be, where we want to go and what we need to build for a more confident Australia for the next generation. No-one is under any illusion that we aren't in difficult international circumstances. Poor nations are weak nations. We need to be bold, we need to be confident, and we need to be strong as a country. That happens when we are prosperous, and Australian families, communities and small business are strong. When Australian families, small business and communities are weak, we have the foundations of a weaker nation.”
“This is a huge problem that Australians are living with now, in the lead-up to Easter and over Saturday with sport, in being able to drive around the electorates of the country. The challenge for Australian households right now is they do not want to see price gouging impacting them. In the lead-up to the bill being presented before the parliament, I understand that we unintentionally misled the House, because I understand that the Treasurer did offer a briefing to the office, but it was not relayed to me. This is a simple error, and so I want to correct the record.”
“There is a simple reality out there in Australia: Australians are desperately trying to find a pathway forward to be able to afford fuel. In this House we have gone through multiple stages of crisis, from complete denial, by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy on Monday, that there is a problem to on Thursday declaring a national crisis in this nation's parliament. As a consequence, Australians are now living the full consequences of a fuel crisis that stems from government denial. If they had taken it more seriously with a sense of urgency and prudence, we wouldn't be in a situation where residents in the electorate are now paying somewhere around $2.50 for unleaded and up to $3.50 for diesel.”
“It finally arrived, it is straightforward and simple, and that's why we have no issue debating it. We do have a problem when the government announces legislation and essentially gives no real insight into its detail—and its detail matters. They have stapled it on to the motion for another bill and forced the debate on it, and the consequence is that it's not just that the opposition who will not have the chance to scrutinise it; the Australian people won't have the chance to scrutinise it. Of course, there will be no chance for those people who understand this legislation to step through it one by one. But let's deal with the legislation now at hand, particularly the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill 2026.”
“A copy has not even, as far as I am aware, been made available to the opposition—or, if it has, we certainly haven't had the chance to read it yet. When you're making such substantial changes to industrial relations legislation—and I know the Labor Party works for the trade union movement; it doesn't work for Australians—at some point you actually have to factor Australians into the conversation. We hope and pray sanity prevails and that the government is proportionate and reasonable. They announced the changes in the ACCC bill well over a week ago. There was a lot of fanfare from the Treasurer. I understand why there was a lot of fanfare from the Treasurer, because they need to be seen to be taking action given the context and time. We have been waiting patiently for the legislation.”
“This is in comparison to the schedules that are being updated in the context of the Competition and Consumer Act which are focused very squarely on making sure penalties are imposed on those who seek to price gouge or harm Australians. It's a straightforward exercise that they have dawdled on every step of the way. The response from the minister has been to not bring the legislation to the House, to bring it to a vote to resolve the matter and to up the penalties, but instead he has allowed time to drift. We are simply asking that that matter, which is simple, straightforward and clear, be resolved. Instead, what the government is now doing is a shambolic process to try and shut down parliamentary scrutiny and parliamentary accountability. I'll remind the House this Fair Work legislation was introduced this morning.”
“We're very happy to see that this legislation, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill 2026, is being debated, though we're very disappointed that the government has gone through a shambled process, to introduce the Fair Work Amendment (Fairer Fuel) Bill 2026 this morning. They have tried to force it through the parliament before anyone in the entire country has read it. The Leader of the House understands full well the scale of the legislation he is trying to introduce, and he is now trying to ram it through the parliament on the basis that he has no interest in the opposition or anyone outside this parliament scrutinising it. It's a very dangerous precedent.”
“Yet, after initially saying there's no problem, the minister for energy has had to come into this parliament every single day and answer simple questions in question time and has had to read out the number of petrol stations that are going dry. Australians are living that. Increasingly I'm hearing stories in urban areas of Australia, including in Melbourne, where people are parking cars deliberately to stop people accessing petrol pumps. This is urgent. It is real. Can the Albanese government please act?”
“We should expect the Treasurer and the minister for energy to step up to the plate, let alone the dispatch box, and do their job, but instead they have not worked with us in a bipartisan fashion in the way that we have wanted. They are not seeking to bring out a sense of urgency about the importance of this legislation, and the only people who are going to pay the price are going to be Australian families, Australian small businesses and of course, particularly, rural and regional communities. We've had this consistent delusion from the government that there is no problem around fuel—this denial from this government that there is no problem around fuel.”
“The first tremor can often be the sign of a bigger earthquake that is to come. The economic earthquake that is going to happen under the Albanese government if we don't take prompt, immediate action to stand with consumers—to make sure they can get the fuel at the pump so they can be in the position they need to be—is a central thing this parliament should be focused on this week. Instead what we've had is a government that has dithered. They introduced this bill. They have not brought it to a vote to drive it through legislatively, to increase the penalties for those who seek to price gouge or take advantage of vulnerable Australians at this time. I've written to the Treasurer and asked for a briefing on the legislation. He hasn't even bothered to respond. It's quite simple. We need action and we need it immediately.”
“Right now, we have small businesses that are already living with the consequences of industrial relations inflation, monetary inflation stoked by pouring debt petrol on the inflation fire because, under the Albanese government, there's always fuel for inflation, just not for farmers or families. All of the other costs and taxes and charges are going up. And now those that are holiday destinations or part of the tourism industry are getting cancellations for Easter because families are saying: 'We can't make ends meet under the Albanese government. We can't make ends meet when you add on the extra cost of fuel.' Australian households are the ones that are living the consequences of this government, but it will cascade. This is always the worry about these sorts of events.”
“We've gone through a situation where, within one week, we've had the Minister for Climate Chang and Energy go from saying, 'There is no problem; we've got plenty of abundant fuel,' to three days later declaring a national crisis, to now already having our second National Cabinet on the national energy crisis. This government has been caught not just flat footed, not just asleep at the wheel—though they have been—but in a state of denial about the scale of the challenge that is being faced by our country and the cost impact it's having on Australian farmers, manufacturers, the freight industry. Of course all of that gets picked up by Australian consumers and also Australian small businesses. Think about it.”
“But more importantly, they're going to increasingly be carpooling to see how it is that they can save a buck, particularly in the lead-up to Easter. In the lead-up to Easter, it's so important to understand, habitually, how important it is that families connect. They can't even afford to drive to see their family or afford the holiday that they have booked and had had booked for months at a caravan park or somewhere where they're driving. That is increasingly being put at jeopardy because of soaring energy prices and fuel prices. This is something that Australians are fixated on right now. What do they expect of their government? They expect leadership. They expect action. But instead what they're hearing is silence. And this is what is so terrifying for so many Australians.”
“I second the motion. I really welcome the motion being put forward by the member for Wannon and shadow minister for energy. Australia is facing a national crisis right now. If every member goes and looks at the cost of petrol or diesel in the petrol stations across their electorates, they will see the consequences of this crisis and, more importantly, how their constituents are doing it tough. Before I came to the dispatch box today, the price of petrol a litre was about $2.50 in the Goldstein electorate; it was about $3.20 for diesel. As the shadow minister correctly pointed out, there are going to be so many families driving between soccer and various other sports this Saturday, questioning whether they can afford to do it and keep supporting their kids.”
“We want to give a massive shout-out to them, because they go on to reinvest 80 per cent of their profits into community support—into programs that help lift all us up. That 80 per cent equates to $3.95 million of donations over the past 25 years, and I give a shout-out and congratulations to Guireh and the board for all their incredible work. May they have many years to come.”
“If you're somebody in the community who can do something to assist BCER, please support them. Donate to them, whether it is money or goods, because it will go towards a good cause—to people who need it. But, most importantly, it will make sure we keep the stitches in our social fabric together. One of the most important things is that banking services are available to communities where they need it. Whether it's older residents, small businesses that want to stay strip shops, or community groups, it's always important to have those banking services where people are. That's where community banking services have made such a difference, particularly in the suburb of Highett. This year Community Bank Highett are celebrating their 25th year as a bank supporting the Highett community.”
“It's supported by amazing volunteers led by the most incredible Deb Brook, the founder of Bayside Community Emergency Relief—volunteers like Jen Manson, Louis Kee, Tracey Vi, Gabriela Ammendola, Nubu Adam, Patricia Linard, Katie Frazer and Louise G. They work to raise funds, particularly through voluntary donations, from the community so that people who are facing difficult financial times get assistance and support. They volunteer for things like packing kits for women who need basic support and sanitary items so that they can have dignity in their lives when things are tough. I've been down to help BCER in the important work they do in packing those bags, with the enormous value they provide. They also have an unending need. The need for food relief keeps skyrocketing. Every shopping bag helps us get food to someone who needs it.”
“Goldstein is full of amazing community organisations who focus on how they can improve and support each other. The great strength of our community is how much people turn to each other and make sure they deliver support and assistance. At this difficult time, particularly when people are living the reality of cost-of-living pressures, whether it's going to the supermarket and wondering whether they can afford their red basket or their trolley, whether it's going to the petrol station and wondering whether they're going to be able to get fuel, let alone afford it, critical community infrastructure that supports people, particularly those on lower incomes, is so vital. That's where the Bayside Community Emergency Relief support service steps in.”
“I'll go through each of them, one by one, and identify where it is that the CFMEU-Labor cartel handing billions to organised crime sits in the rankings of the most corrupt regimes on earth. The lowest one they came up with was the Nigerian prince arrangements. They came in at about $5 million.”
“Even worse than that, while Australian households are going to the supermarket and wondering if they can afford the next 15 bucks or 30 bucks in their trolley or in their red basket, the Albanese government is a participant in providing $15 billion to $30 billion to organised crime through the CFMEU-Labor cartel. Their only solution to that is to turn around and go after more Australians' money as they float new taxes and new charges in the forthcoming federal budget. I think we need to put this in perspective—the scale of the problem this country has under the Albanese government and the CFMEU-Labor cartel. So I thought the best place to look was Transparency International's '25 corruption scandals that shook the world'.”
“The government, in a point of arrogance and hubris, continues to pour debt petrol on the inflation fire. They continue record spending, and no matter how much and how many times they're called out by economists or the Reserve Bank governor, the only response from the Albanese government is to try and bully their critics into silence. There is a compelling reason why Australians must stand up and call that out, and they are standing up and calling it out, because they know that they are living with the consequences of this government's agenda. More to the point, they know that when the government runs out of money, they will come after Australians' money instead. If they run out of money, they come after yours. That's the problem with the Albanese government.”
“If only you could buy a home with the Prime Minister's excuses, and if only you could pay off your mortgage with the Treasurer's excuses. Australians know right now the pain that they are living with under this Albanese government, and they know because they know the consequences, as the RBA governor only last week said, are material. After announcing an interest rate hike off the back of inflation data from the second half of last year, the RBA governor made it crystal clear that, unfortunately, we may not have seen the end of this inflation pressure and interest rate hikes. We want Australians to look to the future with confidence and hope, but they are being dragged down by a bad government that is running Australia into the ground, and this is the problem Australians are facing right now.”
“I'll ask a simple question. What do these things have in common: the lowest consumer confidence on record; expected highest inflation on record; highest small business insolvencies on record; record government spending outside a war or pandemic; record taxpayers' money handed to organised crime; record taxpayers' money provided to corruption rather than to essential services like the NDIS, health care and child care; and record jobs created by public spending? The one thing all these things have in common is the Albanese government, because this government is running Australia into the ground. They are not seeking to boost it or to grow growth or opportunity for the next generation of Australians. All they are hearing from this government is excuses. If only you could fill your car with the minister for energy's excuses.”
“They are waiting to see whether there's going to be a situation in the future where they're going to be able to continue to afford their mortgage. They're seeing inflation continue to rage, interest rates continue to rise and looking at their diminishing bank account under this government and wondering how much longer they're going to have. The experience around the country is real. There has been a 16 per cent increase in food prices since the election of this government, and 166 petrol stations are now out of fuel. We know that, as inflation continues to rage, households are going to feel the pinch, and they're going to look to the future and wonder whether they can get ahead. There is a follow through from events overseas, but there is also a follow through specifically from what people are living with right now.”
“Just think about the challenges Australian families are facing right now. You've got parents who are waiting patiently as they turn up to the petrol station, wondering what the cost is going to be to fill up their car, wondering whether there's going to be any fuel. In New South Wales, we know that 10 per cent—based on the minister's answers in question time today—are absent of fuel and waiting. Australians are waiting at the supermarket to see whether they can afford to pay the final bill as they scan the items. Increasingly, we hear many Australian families choose the self-checkout lane to stop the humiliation they will feel if they have to return an item from their basket. They are waiting to see whether they can afford the bill.”
“It was a shock. The coalition said: 'Yes, actually we believe in this. What's taken you so long?' The cute observations of the assistant minister on the other side of the chamber are particularly entertaining. I'm sorry, are you a minister? I don't know. You never quite know where everybody is these days. The minister on the other side of the table has been interjecting, 'What took you so long?' I'm not sure if you noticed, Minister, but you're sitting on that side of the table. You're in government. I'm quite happy if you want to forgo that. But the reality is you did not—”
“This government marks its success by the number of days bums sit on those seats over there, the number of days that the Prime Minister can do things like humiliate the Treasurer of the country, the extent to which the Prime Minister can occupy C1 but not actually deliver for the Australian people. That is not a good pathway for governing this country. But we are all left waiting while the Minister for Energy and Climate Change lets the country run out of oil, the Treasurer pours debt-petrol on the inflation fire, and as for the Prime Minister—well, when somebody can tell me what he's doing, I'd love to hear it. Australians have been left waiting with the consequences of this bill while we have sat here patiently waiting for change. Now we have legislation delivered from on high, and now we have a pathway to vote for it. And what happened?”
“I think he's off at the OECD these days. I don't know what he's doing there; you can't run interference for industry super funds there. The then assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, announced, to much fanfare—you know when they do that, when Labor get up and they announce with trumpets and songs and their own people what a wonderful job they're going to do?—that they were going to, finally, ban genetic testing. Well, September 2024 is a fair way from where we are now, presently. But they did nothing, as a consequence. That announcement was widely welcomed and raised real expectations among Australians and the medical community—but never let the opportunity to stall, to do nothing, pass this government, which marks its success not on what it achieves for the Australian people.”
“So it is a simple expectation that life insurance operates in a non-discriminatory way, when we know full well that people face different circumstances within their lives—and they're specifically seeking insurance to protect things like their livelihood, their income and their capacity to support their family in light of that. So why did it take this government so long to be able to progress it? In 2019, when we were in government, we started the whole process to have this conversation. What it meant was that, by the time we got to the 2022 election, there was broad agreement across the sector, from the life insurance industry themselves. And, in September 2024, the old—remember him, the Assistant Treasurer, Stephen Jones? I'm not sure I'm going to say that I'm going to miss him, but let's put that to one side.”
“Of course, while every family is different and every family has a different economic make-up, life insurance policies heavily go towards those who are principal financial contributors to the household to make sure that people have confidence in the future. But, by providing a pathway for genetic testing for life insurance, what you can end up with is people being excluded from being able to access a pool of insurance to give them protection—and that is the whole point of insurance. Insurance is a pool to mitigate risk. Risk can range from people's genetic make-up to the circumstances they face, the workplaces they work in and, of course, other factors that put or pose risks to their overall wellbeing.”
“In fact, the industry has moved forward on this issue. The parliament has regularly discussed this issue. There has only been one group who have been neanderthalic in their response, and it has, of course, been the current Labor government. So we support this legislation, because, finally, they are doing something. Finally, we are actually getting action, after four years, to stop medical testing being a pathway to deny access to life insurance. When you think about it, so many Australians, not knowing what the future holds—and none of us know what tomorrow holds, let alone today—take out life insurance policies because they simply want to be in a position to be able to support their families, beyond their current life, if, unfortunately, the worst happens, particularly with themselves and their families.”